more from A Girl Like Me…

Wanted to play up A Girl Like Me more after using it as a blending color in the earlier eotd. Used a different color placement this time. Less of a smokey eye look. Photos were taken after a long day hence the slight clumping at the crease line, slight fall out below the eye and the shiny skin.

• Monistat – all over eye base
• NYX Jumbo Eye Pencil in Yoghurt – all over lid smudged
• TSS Beyond Skin Deep – patted on lid and as a highlight on brow bone
• TSS A Girl Like Me – on the crease and up towards the brow bone
• TSS Biggest Impact – used a small angled brush and drew in a darker line right at the crease and blended upwards
• Majolica Majorca liquid liner in BL603 (blue)

A Girl Like Me Click’ed with Fleeting Wisdom

So I thought I’d shop my stash for some neutrals. In particular, I looked for some browns.

The two darker browns were from one of the first e/s that I ever purchased from TheSheSpace. I think it was one of the collections from June 2008. I didn’t buy the whole collection of “A Stone’s Throw”. The two lighter colors are from the Live Inspired collection which dates back to Fall 2008. I have the entire collection of that and I think it marks the start of my TSS madness. :P

In particular, I absolutely love Beyond Skin Deep. Its the perfect neutral shade for my skin tone. Many times, I find myself wearing this color all over my eye area with just a colored liner for that bit of drama.

• Monistat – all over base
• NYX Jumbo Eye Pencil in French Fries – all over lid and smudged
• TSS Fleeting Wisdom – patted on lid
• TSS Click – used a crease brush to blend it upwards past the crease
• TSS A Girl Like Me – to blend Click and Beyond Skin Deep together
• TSS Beyond Skin Deep – highlight under the brow

and here are the e/s descriptions

Fleeting Wisdom - Darkest tree bark brown with flashes of sheer crystal twinkle

Click - Deep dark chocolate with hints of bronze and copper

A Girl Like Me - Sheer plum with a hint of cocoa and gold twinkle

Beyond Skin Deep - Velvety bisque with a hint of soft rose

Starburst copied…

First time I saw the video tutorial for this look, I said ‘too bright’ and ‘pink… ewwww!’ But the look stayed in my head for more than a week and I started to try and figure out how I could copy it. Why? well, just cos it’d be something I’ve never done before.

First up, what to use? minerals? or one of my palettes? Minerals was my first choice so I started swatching…

Now although I know I don’t normally buy yellows or pinks much less reds… I plowed through my collection of minerals and turned up with these red/pinks…

• Beauty from the Earth Rasberry
• SilkMinerals Strawberry
• SilkMinerals Pomegranate
• TSS Vampires Tap Dancing (LE Storybook)
• Aromaleigh lookinforakiss
• Aromaleigh peony

nice pinks, not reds, but to me, they looked a little too blue for the eotd I was going for… still looking for that elusive red…

finding yellows was equally challenging…

do you see a problem? I did… no really pure yellow yellows. more golds and bronzey golds. Sigh…

I finally resorted to following VoT’s suggestions on using the 88 matte palette and 120 palette. And here was what I came up with… only thing I left out was the false eyelashes.

• Monistat – base
• NYX jumbo eye pencil in strawberry milk
• from the 88 matte palette – pink, red and white
• from the 120 palette – yellow
• Majolica Majorca liquid liner in black
• Maybelline mascara

So do you think I got close enough to my target? let me know.

A Prosperous Start to the New Year

Gong Xi! Gong Xi! To my chinese readers… may the year be filled with good fortune and lots to eat! and above all “shen ti jian kang”! (gee I hope I get that hypy right… :P)

The first day was a looooooong tiring day of visiting, dealing with sugar high kids and a homebody hubby who just wanted to go home. We covered a total of 9 homes… starting out from home at 7.30 and finishing at about 4. Headed back to my mom’s place for some r&r before two more aunties and assorted cousins visited in the evening. By staying those extra hours at my mom’s, I ‘escaped’ having to visit two more houses. *grin*

Finally reached our home at 9.30. Super tired… my kids just washed up and it was “lights out”. Even my hubby slept pretty early.

By 10.30, when I was finished sorting and clearing stuff, all I could hear was the collective chorus of snores. Rather heart warming… but then maybe I’m just strange.

So here’s my look for the first day… tried out a new pair of half falsies – Ardell Accents Lashes 301. Used them with the DUO lash glue. They got glued on at 6.45am.

Impressions : easier to use than full lashes and I didn’t run about the whole day feeling like I had spiders on my lids. On the whole, very happy with them. They added length at the ends where it mattered. Only thing I’d do different the next time would be to put mascara on and curl my lashes before putting these babies on.

On to the EOTD (as usual, click thru for bigger pics) :

• Monistat – base
• NYX jumbo eye pencil in baby blue
• smudged all over lid and up into the crease
• to take off some of the ‘redness’ aka warmth from the shades I was using next
• TSS The Doll House (LE Grab Bag)
• patted all over lid
• used under the brows as a highlight
• TSS Goodness and Grace (LE Ho Ho ‘08)
• 1/3 out lid and up to the crease and blended to the brow bone
• TSS One Stuck Sleigh (LE Ho Ho ‘08)
• outer v and blended
• Majolica Majorca Neo liquid liner in black (999)
• upper lash line
• Maybelline’s Volum’ Express Turbo Boost mascara in black
• Inuovi’s brow pencil in Cocoa

 

Face :

• Biore’s Radiant Sunscreen lotion
• SilkNatural’s foundation and perfecting powder blend

Cheeks :

• Canmake blush in 05
• SilkNaturals’ blush in Climax and Babydoll (mixed)

Lips :

• SilkNaturals organic lipgloss in Rare Berry

And here’s what my eotd looked like at 9.45pm…  the lashes stayed put (even though I’d brought both glue and liner just in case)… minimal creasing near the tear duct. Hardly any fading I could see.

Really, for me, NYX jumbo eye pencils combined with TSS e/s are my HG for long wearing looks that last through heat, humidity and super long days.

BFTE eotd #1

Here’s the first of what I hope to be a couple of Beauty From the Earth (BFTE) eotds.

To start things off… a lovely golden e/s called Sunshine. What an apt name. Its a ray of sunshine that brightens up your eye.

here I used BFTE Sunshine on top of NYX JEP in Yoghurt. My base as usual is Monistat. The liner is NYX JEP in blackbean with Fyrinnae’s Sea Turtle e/s patted on top. Brows are filled in with Inuovi’s cocoa pencil. No mascara.

 

and here’s my fotd…

SN mix of foundation, perfecting powder, date bait, zinc and silica
SN blush in Babydoll
SN lipgloss in peace

   

before you ask… the guy with the ear behind me… is my hubby. LOL!   

Super Simple EOTD II

Someone… and I won’t say who… complained that I used a LE shade that wasn’t available any more. So here’s a similar look using a regular shade that was is one of my favourites to use as a highlight or even over another color to lighten it up a little.

no base – unless u count sunblock
NYX JEP in baby blue – all over lid
TSS Moonlight Whimsey – patted on lid and blended upwards til the brow bone
MM’s liquid eyeliner in 995
MM’s gorgeous lash mascara 
Maybelline’s Volum’ Express Turbo Boost mascara in black 
Inuovi’s brow pencil in Cocoa (found the name :P)

Super simple EOTD

Didn’t feel very colorful today… so here’s what I came up with…

No base
NYX JEP in Yoghurt – all over lid
TSS Beyond Skin Deep – patted on lid and blended upwards all the way to the brow.
MM’s liquid eyeliner in 995 (I think… its the greyish/silverish black) – tried for a slightly winged look
MM’s gorgeous lash mascara
Maybelline’s Volum’ Express Turbo Boost mascara in black
Inuovi’s brow pencil in I dunno what color. *lol*

 

I had forgotten how totally goregous Beyond Skin Deep is. It gives a lovely subtle glow to my eyes that is really so pretty. Am pretty sure I’ve got a spare sample baggie of this color cos I love love love it. Now to rummage through my stash again. For asians, I can’t emphasize how much I love this color! Sadly it was an LE… so I doubt its available any more. Still no harm checking with Heather from TheSheSpace :P

These pics were taken at 11.37pm and the m/u was applied at 4pm so… eyes are slightly oily. Apologies. Forgot to take pics as I was rushing out the door.

A cup full of colors

During the recent CherryCulture sale for NYX, I grabbed myself a couple Jumbo Eye Pencils. The swatches below are not my full collection – the last three swatches are actually my friend’s.

So here they are:

from left to right, top to bottom

Pink, Baby Blue, Oyster, Lavender, Purple, Pacific
Iced Mocha, French Fries, Yoghurt, Horse Radish, Pots and Pans, Slate, Black
Milk, Cottage Cheese, Orange, Bronze and Rust

w/flash

  

w/o flash

here are tighter shots…

 

  

Dueling Divas and Matyr Girl make Empty Promise – TSS eotd

I am continuing to shop my stash. Yes, I know I have three LEs which I haven’t touched yet – not even to swatch for you patient readers who have requested swatches… but at the moment, I’m finding it more fun to shop my stash and see what new looks I can come up with.

These TSS colors are all available in the regular collection except for Dueling Divas which is from the custom palette.

One of my gfs commented that since I have a sizable area above my crease I should use it. So I’m trying to extend the limits of my color application. LOL!

My color mojo is kinda back. If you notice, I’m using a lot more colors again. But its fun to really get back to blending and mixing things up.

Lashes used were Ardell’s Demure. I did tell my other gf that I didn’t like them… well, surprise, surprise, fickle Fr0nd actually does. They significantly up the volume of my lashes while not being long enough to hit the lenses of my glasses. So I’ll probably be looking into getting a couple more of this model.

Enough talk… on to the eotd!

Monistat – base
NYX JEP in Pacific – all over lid and smudged up
TSS Dueling Divas (custom) – inner lid
TSS Pom Pom Chic – mid lid
TSS Matyr Girl – out lid & crease
TSS Empty Promise (one of my fav purples) – above the crease
TSS Moonlight Whimsy (another old fav) – highlight
MM liquid e/liner in black
Dayna’s Minerals Just Browsing Black – brows
Ardell’s Demure lashes

    

with flash – pls excuse the oiliness, this was taken at night after a very long day

my own thoughts are that I really should move the lashes inwards… they’re way too long at the outer corners and make everything look droopy. But given that I had already spent 45 mins (just on lashes) trying to get this look together, I was too frustrated to pull them off and start over for the fifth time. Will try to do better the next round.

and one with my eldest who has become a four eyed monster just recently :(

finally, just a word to let you know that I’ll try to blog at least twice a week for the next four weeks. But no promises. Its the school holidays and that means mummy is on the “go go go” – much less “me” time to play with my colors :)

til the next time, stay beautiful!